jdx/mise · error

mise link only supports concrete versions and refs, not {}

Error message

mise link only supports concrete versions and refs, not {}

What it means

`mise link` creates a symlink from mise's installs directory to an existing tool installation, and can only name the link by a concrete version or a ref. The first guard (link.rs:38) rejects any ToolRequest that is neither `Version` nor `Ref` — e.g. `path:`, `system`, or prefix requests — because there is no stable pathname to link under.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/link.rs:38

    /// Tool name and version to create a symlink for
    #[clap(value_name = "TOOL@VERSION")]
    tool: ToolArg,

    /// The local path to the tool version
    /// e.g.: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0
    #[clap(value_hint = ValueHint::DirPath, verbatim_doc_comment)]
    path: PathBuf,

    /// Overwrite an existing tool version if it exists
    #[clap(long, short = 'f')]
    force: bool,
}

impl Link {
    pub async fn run(self) -> Result<()> {
        let tvr = match self.tool.tvr.as_ref() {
            Some(tvr @ (ToolRequest::Version { .. } | ToolRequest::Ref { .. })) => tvr,
            Some(tvr) => bail!(
                "mise link only supports concrete versions and refs, not {}",
                tvr.version()
            ),
            None => bail!("must provide a version for {}", self.tool.style()),
        };
        let config = Config::get().await?;
        let version_pathname = match tvr {
            ToolRequest::Version { version, .. } => {
                let backend = tvr.backend()?;
                let resolved_alias = config.resolve_alias(&backend, version).await?;
                if version == "latest"
                    || resolved_alias != *version
                    || backend.is_rolling_channel(version)
                {
                    bail!(
                        "mise link only supports concrete versions and refs, not {}",
                        tvr.version()
                    );

View on GitHub (pinned to 9dcfcaa0dc)

Solutions

1. Provide a concrete version: `mise link node@22.17.1 ~/.tools/node-v22.17.1`
2. Or a ref: `mise link node@ref:main ~/.tools/node-main`
3. For versionless aliases, resolve the version first (`mise latest node`) and link that

Example fix

# before
mise link node@system /usr
# after
mise link node@22.17.1 ~/.tools/node-v22.17.1

#!/usr/bin/env bash
req=$1  # expect TOOL@VERSION
ver=${req#*@}
case "$ver" in
  "$req"|""|path:*|system|ref:*|*.x)
    echo "mise link needs a concrete version, e.g. ${req%%@*}@22.17.1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
esac
mise link "$req" "$path"

mise link "$tool@$ver" "$path" 2>err.log || { grep -q 'only supports concrete versions' err.log && mise link "$tool@$(mise latest "$tool")" "$path"; }

When it happens

Trigger: `mise link node@path:/opt/node ~/.tools/node` or `mise link node@20.x ...`; anything where the TOOL@VERSION arg parses into a non-concrete request variant.

Common situations: Copy-pasting a version string that works in mise.toml into `mise link`; linking system-managed tools, which link does not support.

Related errors

• invalid version: {}
• must provide a version for {}
• cannot link {} to its own install path
• invalid prefix: {}
• No config file found in current directory

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@9dcfcaa0dc (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5f60b9aca66f9c4e. Report an issue: GitHub.